Independent Clinical and Echocardiographic Predictors of Restenosis After Percutaneous Mitral Balloon Commissurotomy in a Large, Consecutive Cohort Followed for 24 Years.

Objective: To enlighten preprocedural risk factors of mitral valve restenosis in a large, single-center cohort of patients submitted to percutaneous mitral balloon commissurotomy (PMBC) for the treatment of mitral stenosis (MS) secondary to rheumatic heart disease.

Methods: This is a database analysis of a single-center, high-volume tertiary institution involving all consecutive PMBC procedures performed in the mitral valve (MV). Restenosis was diagnosed when MV area was <1.

Very Long Term Follow-Up After Percutaneous Balloon Mitral Valvuloplasty.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess very long term outcomes after successful percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty (PBMV).

Background: PBMV remains the preferred treatment for patients with severe symptomatic rheumatic mitral stenosis and suitable anatomy.

Methods: All consecutive patients who underwent successful PBMV between 1987 and 2010 were included.

Preoperative left ventricular ejection fraction and left atrium reverse remodeling after mitral regurgitation surgery.

Background: Left atrium enlargement has been associated with cardiac events in patients with mitral regurgitation (MR). Left atrium reverse remodeling (LARR) occur after surgical correction of MR, but the preoperative predictors of this phenomenon are not well known. It is therefore important to identify preoperative predictors for postoperative LARR.

Effect of mitral valve repair on cardiopulmonary exercise testing variables in patients with chronic mitral regurgitation.

Background: Mitral valve repair is the surgical procedure of choice for patients with chronic Mitral Regurgitation (MR). The good early and late results allow surgical indication before symptom onset. The cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) can objectively assess functional capacity, but little is known about the effect of surgery on their variables.

Immediate and long-term follow-up of percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty in pregnant patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis.

Percutaneous mitral balloon valvuloplasty (PMV) can be performed during pregnancy without significant maternal risk or fetal morbidity or mortality. However, little is known about long-term follow-up results after PMV in populations of pregnant women. Thus, the present study was undertaken to determine the immediate and long-term outcomes after PMV in a large cohort of pregnant patients with severe mitral stenosis.

Aspergillus infection in the ascending aorta of a patient with aortic and mitral valve prostheses.

We report the case of implantation of metallic mitral and aortic valve prostheses 6 months earlier, with subsequent multiple embolic episodes. The anatomicopathological examination of the thrombus of the third embolic episode was compatible with Aspergillus sp, which was treated with amphotericin B, followed by oral itraconazole. On the fourth embolism, vegetations were visualized in the ascending aorta on echocardiography and resonance imaging, and the patient underwent replacement of the aortic segment by a Haemashield tube and exploration of the aortic prosthesis, which was preserved, because no signs of endocarditis were found.

Fibrinolytic therapy for thrombosis in cardiac valvular prosthesis short and long term results.

Objective: To assess the short- and long-term results of the use of streptokinase (SK) for the treatment of thromboses in cardiac valvular prostheses.

Methods: Seventeen patients with cardiac prosthetic thrombosis diagnosed by clinical, echocardiographic, and radioscopic findings underwent fibrinolytic treatment with a streptokinase bolus of 250,000 U followed by 100.000 U/hour.